The Golden Knights didn't play bad in this game. Really, they didn't. They just didn't play great, either.

Thursday's game in Boston, probably more than any game Vegas has played this season, was extremely tight checking. For both teams.

There wasn't much time on the ice all night, as the neutral zone got clogged by quite a bit of obstruction plays, that were both called and not called.

For a team like Vegas, which isn't teeming with high-end offensive talent, this isn't an awful recipe for success. Keep it close, hang around and give your chance to win.

Especially on the road, in a difficult place to win like Boston, this is almost all you can really ask for.

Unfortunately, the Golden Knights were able to hang around all night and gave themselves a chance to win. But when the decisive blow was struck with 10:07 remaining in the third, it went to the Bruins' Sean Kuraly.

With the Golden Knights' losing two straight games entering the evening since Oscar Dansk was injured on Monday and forced fourth string Maxime Lagace into the nets, the outside image of this team has been that it hasn't had a chance to win games.

Lagace, however, was solid on Thursday and was a hard-luck loser.

Sure, some of his saves could have been made a bit more cleanly. But in the end, he stopped 26 of 28 shotsand gave his team a chance to win. Not much more you can ask for from a fourth string goalie.

Lagace gave Vegas a chance to win, but it just didn't work out.

3. Momentum spiraling the wrong way

Sure, at 8-4-0, the Golden Knights hardly are in trouble. It's only November 2, too.

Although with three straight losses, Vegas is absolutely no longer steaming hot, as it was when it won its fifth straight game and departed on its road trip last weekend.

In the early going, whenever the Golden Knights were in a key moment, the game tilted in their favor. Three straight overtime wins, plus James Neal's heroics in the final moments of the team's opener in Dallas.

This trend has now reversed.

Vegas has been in every game on this road trip - tied in the third period of two of them, in fact. But where all the big goals were going in favor of the Golden Knights early, Vegas just hasn't been able to get a break on this trip.

Some of this can be attributed to bad luck, sure. But also, good teams make their own luck.

Entering the second half of this road trip in Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal, there are no easy games for the Golden Knights. However, someone on this team is going to have to step up and turn the momentum back in the other direction.